1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to the field of silicon on insulator (SOI) structures, and in particular to a method of forming a strained silicon layer.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In certain applications, such as for the formation of high performance transistors, it can be advantageous to use a strained silicon or silicon germanium layer. In particular, silicon layers that are in tension and/or compression demonstrate an increased speed of charge careers, thereby increasing performance of transistor devices formed within such layers.
Existing techniques for forming a strained silicon layer generally involve forming the silicon layer by epitaxial growth over a relaxed silicon germanium (SiGe) layer. Thus the silicon atoms are stretched beyond their normal inter-atomic distance by the SiGe seed layer, resulting in a strained silicon layer.
A problem with such existing techniques is that there tends to be a relatively high density of defects in the relaxed SiGe layer, which are then transferred to the epitaxial silicon layer.
There is thus a need in the art for an improved method of forming a strained silicon layer.